Modern motor vehicles frequently comprise multiple driver assistance systems, which are intended to support the driver in various situations. These driver assistance systems, in particular jointly with ego data related to the operation of the host motor vehicle, evaluate environmental data, which can be ascertained, for example, by environment sensors of the motor vehicle, by a communication device or from digital map material. The respective input data of a function of the driver assistance system is usually checked against at least one measure criterion, wherein a corresponding measure is automatically carried out when the criterion is met. Measures may include the output of warnings to the driver as well as interventions in the driving operation, in particular transverse guidance interventions and/or longitudinal guidance interventions, or the change of operating parameters of at least one system of the motor vehicle. Known driver assistance systems, for example, relate to parking and maneuvering processes, longitudinal and transverse guidance assistance especially when driving at high speed, traffic jam assistance and, last but not least, safety functions of the motor vehicle, such as the protection of the motor vehicle as a whole and/or of certain components of the motor vehicle, such as the wheels/rims. Driver assistance systems related to lighting systems and the like are also known.
Since, especially with respect to environmental data, this data is often required by multiple driver assistance systems in the motor vehicle, it is proposed, within the meaning of information fusion and in particular sensor data fusion, to ascertain a central model of the environment from the environmental data, which the various driver assistance systems can access. Typical environment models are composed of a plurality of feature data structures, which each relate to an environmental feature and, for example, contain attributes related to the environmental feature. If the environmental feature is another road user, for example, a class of the road user, a speed of the road user, a driving direction of the road user, and a plurality of other properties of the road users may be used as associated attributes. Similar attribute associations are, of course, also conceivable for environmental features of another type. Within the scope of the function of driver assistance systems to evaluate measure criteria, the driver assistance systems may access feature data structures pertaining to relevant environmental features, and use these as part of the input data.
As technology advances, not only do the number of driver assistance systems increase, but so does the field of use thereof. For example, traffic jam assistance systems, which previously were limited to extremely low speeds for guiding a motor vehicle fully automatically through a traffic jam situation, can be used up to higher speeds, while on the other hand systems designed for high speeds, such as lane keeping assistant systems and/or longitudinal guidance systems comprising a follow function, can also be used at lower speeds. As the quality of environment sensors increases, it is also possible to use various safety systems that are geared toward protecting vehicle parts and the like against collisions for higher speed ranges and/or distance ranges. While this, on the one hand, increases the possibilities for assisting the driver, on the other hand this creates overlapping fields of use of driver assistance systems, in which these systems possibly evaluate identical environmental features and, within the scope of the functions thereof, arrive at identical, but possibly also different, conclusions. This may result in unintended dual warnings for the driver or in opposing other measures, in particular interventions in the driving operation. For example, when a driver assistance system watching intersecting traffic when pulling out of a parking space has detected a traversing vehicle and found this to be so relevant that a warning should be output, it may nonetheless happen that a safety system that is geared toward collision protection also considers the traversing vehicle to be relevant. This would then result in a dual warning, or even in a braking intervention in addition to the warning, even though the driver assistance system for monitoring intersecting traffic had intended a steering intervention to take the traversing vehicle into consideration. This results in unintended effects triggering confusion in a driver.